


Would you make a good spy?

by emma_ockham



Series: Lord Marbury Theatrical Muse [4]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: Spy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 08:47:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6747157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emma_ockham/pseuds/emma_ockham
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Interview with the ambassador.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Would you make a good spy?

**Author's Note:**

> Posted in tribute of the incomparable Roger Rees, who would have become 72 on May 5th this year.
> 
> #247 from LJ's Theatrical Muse

"Would you make a good spy? Why or why not?" the young woman asks. 

He forgot from whatever American magazine she was, but freezes as if caught, before he relaxes back into his usual buoyant carefree stance. "What gives you the impression I am not a excellent operative already?" Marbury asks casually.

The woman raises her brows, scrutinizing him, and then slowly shaking her head.

"There's this persistent impression that a secret agent is of necessity an scarcely perceptible, black clad, athletic young coxcomb." His hand brushes his expensive jacket. "Whatever my current status is, I can assure you that 007 was never actually employed by Her Majesty or her Secret Service. Spies are ridiculously conventionally appearing people, hiding in plain sight." He nods emphatically.

"Ah," the woman said noncommittally. 

"Though my appearance may not be quite as 'ridiculously conventional' as your average spy, hiding in plain sight - as a matter of fact - is an art form that hardly anyone has mastered as superbly as I have. I am exquisitely visible, wouldn't you say?" A slow jocular smile emerges. "And one could easily see how I'd make an exceptionally effective spy. I travel the world and have bountiful rational as to my presence at the best of tables."

The woman's eyes grew large as if she was considering whether she had a scoop here.

"Of course," he pauses thoughtfully, "there's the small matter of discretion and being _compos mentis_ when brought in contact with women and whiskey, that could give my Aunt E. cause to pause... But on the whole, I'd consider myself a suspiciously good subject."

The woman started scribbling in her notebook rather frantically. 

"Unfortunately, I am not a spy, " he said.

She looked up, aggravation in her eyes.

"Obviously, I would announce it if I were," he told her.


End file.
